Tuesday, August 19, 2014

At Home: Coconut Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

I was always intimidated by homemade ice cream. But I was recently gifted a neat little battery-operated ice cream machine and Keith kept asking, "when are you going to make ice cream?" So I researched for simple recipes to try as my next experiment for What Micky Eats...At Home. You only need five ingredients to make this creamy and dreamy Coconut Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. It is dairy-free and can also be vegan. Coconut and chocolate lovers will scream for this ice cream! Makes 1 pint.Coconut Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (Adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod)

1 (13.66 oz) can coconut milk

¼ cup granulated sugar

½ teasp vanilla extract

¼ cup shredded coconut

¼ cup chocolate chips

- Place the coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla in a blender. Blend until combined, about 30 seconds.
- Freeze using an ice cream maker, according to manufacturer's instructions.
- During the last few minutes of churning, add in the chocolate chips and coconut.
- Serve immediately for a soft serve texture or you can place the ice cream in a container and freeze for a firmer texture.

This recipe was SO easy! If you need the ice cream to be vegan and dairy free, make sure you use vegan chocolate. The creamy coconut ice cream is loaded with chocolate chips and shredded coconut. Using the coconut milk as a base just opens the possibility for so many other dairy-free ice cream options. The machine I have is this Sassafras / Ice Cream Maker. It is small and has two compartments so you can make two different flavors at the same time! So, I made plain coconut on the other side. I also added in the chocolate chips and coconut flakes a bit earlier than recommended, so it all churned in with the base causing a chocolate color. If you want to keep the base white, then only add in the extras towards the very end. The machine requires batteries and takes approximately 4 hours to churn in the freezer.